How To Lose Fat in Vegas Faster Than You Can Lose Your Money

Sin City (or travel anywhere) doesn’t have to mean you’re going to gain weight. It’s easy to plan your way out of any holiday weight gain. In fact, you can even lose fat while traveling.

The idea for this post came to me while I was having a cold Blue Moon last Thursday afternoon at the outdoor bar by Caesar’s Palace. (Yes, once in a while I like a beer!). As I sat at the bar and watched college basketball, I looked around and saw dozens of men and women drinking high-calorie drink after high-calorie drink.

These drinks were enormous. If you’ve been to Vegas, you know what I mean.

Those massive daiquiris and margaritas must have been 700 calories each, and guys and girls were going through one every 30-45 minutes! Add to that the high calorie meals you know they were having at brunch and dinner, and those folks were close to doing the impossible – and putting on 2 pounds of fat per day.

But listen, Vegas (and your vacations) don’t have to be calorie orgies. Here are 5 diet and nutrition tips to help you avoid gaining fat in sin city (or anywhere)…

1) Develop the power OVER food

The best way to do this is to try Brad Pilon’s Eat-Stop-Eat program. You’ll quickly develop the power to go 15 minutes without food, which is what it seems like most people struggle with these days.

On Saturday afternoon at the seminar I was attending, a sandwich buffet lunch was served – although it was served relatively late, at 1:30pm. As we stood in the long line that moved quite slowly, I overheard two women behind me complaining over and over again about how hungry they were and how they were upset at how slow the line was moving.

But for me, even though I was hungry, I had the power OVER food. Food does not have the power over me. Having done Brad’s program, I no longer experience anxiety over not eating as soon as hunger sets in. And it only takes one experience with Brad’s program to develop the power over food.

And when you achieve this, you’ll be able to be surrounded by ALL the buffets in Vegas, and still not make a bad food decision. YOU will have the power over food, no matter how long you’ve struggled in the past. Powerful stuff!

2) Get social support to control portions

Eat with a friend who is also trying to lose fat. On Friday and Saturday night I had dinner with a mixture of American and International friends (Russian, Argentine, Panamanian, Uruguayan). I quickly noticed that all of my International friends ate only until full, and did not look to stuff themselves.

Of our group, only our American friend ate a large serving of mashed potatoes and then followed up with a large dessert. Had I been dining only with the American, I might have ate more – to the point of being uncomfortably stuffed, but due to the influence of the controlled eaters at the table, I ate only what I needed.

3) Don’t be afraid to, gasp, send extra food back.

When dining out, most restaurants continue to overload you with unlimited amounts of bread. But you don’t need it. After all, you didn’t go to Vegas (or even your local restaurant) to eat bread, did you? Can’t you get that at home?

So simply send it back or ask that none be brought to the table. Or limit yourself to one roll, and tell the waiter that’s all you want. Or skip it altogether. You can get bread at home, you don’t need to go to a fancy restaurant to get little balls of white flour.

4) Limit the alcohol calories.

Don’t mix the alcohol with other calories. Each drink (wine, shot of alcohol, or beer) is about 150 calories. Drink responsibly, and don’t go adding 150-500 calories of sugar to each drink.

Can you drink alcohol and still lose fat? Yes, absolutely. Just remember the consequences of drinking alcohol. The calories won’t fill you up and the booze will cause you to make poor decisions when it comes to ordering your meal.

Some people are responsible and can mix booze into a fat loss program. Most people are not. So review where you fit into those two categories, plan ahead, and choose wisely when dining out.

5) Focus on other activities.

Please tell me you didn’t go all the way to Vegas (or any holiday location) just for the food. There are so many other things to do…so make your vacation about activities, not about eating. Stick to the one reward meal per week as a reward for all of your effort, and focus your mind on enjoying the sights, sounds, and company you are traveling with.

(Here’s a picture of me and my friend Yanik Silver in Vegas (and that’s Tony Hawk in the background) just before we went on the “Zero-G” flight where we experienced weightlessness and got to float around the airport as if we were astronauts in space. Good times!

Bonus Tip for Fat Loss When Traveling) Use the Turbulence Training workouts after you wake-up to make sure you stick to your fat loss workout program.

With those rules, you can travel anywhere in the world, from Sin City to Timbuktu, and you won’t gain body fat.

In fact, you’ll lose fat fast if you keep your calories to less than you need and you use the Turbulence Training workouts.

Craig Ballantyne is the author of The Perfect Day Formula: How to Own the Day and Control Your Life. Craig has been a contributor to Men’s Health magazine for over 17 years. Today he teaches his gift high-performing entrepreneurs how to squeeze more out of their days, increase their income, and make more quality time for their families in his Perfect Life Workshop and Work-Life Mastery programs. Craig used his own advice to overcome crippling anxiety attacks in 2006, and he’ll teach you his 5 Pillars of Success so you can increase your income, decrease your work time, and live the life of your dreams. Learn more about Craig at craigballantyne.com

Derek

Craig nice post…these are excellent tips. I especially agree with the gaining power over food so you can wait for better choices if need be and the ability of others at a table to influence how you eat. Unfortunately most of us are in the situation where others at the table are coaxing us to eat and drink more…especially the bread (does that right half of the bread picture look like what I think it looks like…if so I will be eating less bread ;-)…but we have the power to stop ourselves. I too used to overload my alcohol with the 100s of calories of sugar but i kicked that habit a while back…great advice here.

Good call on the Blue Moon…I too like to indulge in those occasionally…especially good with a college b-ball game.

– D

Craig Ballantyne

Thanks Derek! Yes, all about the mindset and power over food! And yeah, funny shaped roll, isn’t it?

Great post. I travel a lot and often have difficult time managing meals. I like to buy fruit or have nuts handy. That way I won’t feel guilty sending extra food back. Great choice on the beer. My favorite.

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